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Would You Take A Pill With The Same Health Benefits As Wine?

Many people say yes! Find out what’s in it, how it can help you live longer and when you can expect to have it in your hand.

Want the health benefits of red wine, without the tipsiness or hangover? It’s coming soon in a pill! In fact, according to the journal Science, drug scientists are now testing new synthetic versions of resveratrol – a chemical found in red wine. And while these new drugs deliver a dose of that chemical that’s 100 times more potent than what’s in wine, experts say the pills won’t get us drunk.

Instead, early tests suggest the new drugs could help us live longer! That’s because they’re designed to target a specific enzyme in the body called S-I-R-T-1, which naturally switches “on” when we exercise and eat healthy food. But it turns out, lots of new research shows that this enzyme can also be activated by the chemicals in red wine, which means having one of these new pills can “mimic” the health benefits of drinking wine.

What kind of benefits? For starters, studies show that drinking red wine helps us ward off heart disease, osteoporosis, blood clots, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and the list goes on and on! But the problem with red wine is that if you have more than one glass a day, the health risks start to outweigh the benefits. Plus, a lot of people don’t drink wine because, well, it’s wine, and they don’t want to be pulled over for driving drunk!

That’s why scientists are so excited about the new synthetic red wine drugs. According to Harvard genetics professor David Sinclair, each new drug is being developed to treat one specific disease – like osteoporosis or Alzheimer’s. But because they’re loaded with resveratrol, the drugs could help prevent at least 20 other diseases at the same time – just like a glass of wine – and effectively slow aging! Sinclair says we’ll probably see these pills within five years.